Hantavirus Cruise Ship Docks in Netherlands for Decontamination
Theo Al Jazeera
The MV Hondius, carrying 25 crew members and two medical staff, docked in Rotterdam on Monday (May 18) after three passengers died from hantavirus. The entire crew will be immediately quarantined as authorities set up isolation containers.
The cruise ship MV Hondius, the site of a deadly hantavirus outbreak, has docked in the Netherlands for decontamination. According to operator Oceanwide Expeditions, no one aboard is currently showing symptoms.
The vessel arrived at the port of Rotterdam on Monday (May 18) with 25 crew members and two medical staff, after all passengers had disembarked at other locations. Authorities have set up white containers along the riverbank near the ship's berth. The crew will enter immediate quarantine; those unable to return home will stay in these containers during the isolation period.
Earlier, three passengers aboard died, including a Dutch couple believed to have first encountered the virus during a visit to South America. The MV Hondius spent six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where remaining passengers were evacuated and flown to over 20 countries for quarantine.
At least 11 infections have been reported aboard, with nine confirmed. Canada's Public Health Agency said one of four Canadians in quarantine after leaving the ship tested positive on Sunday (May 17). The agency will share details of the case with the World Health Organization (WHO).
On Sunday, the WHO said it continues to assess the hantavirus outbreak as "low risk." The WHO stressed: "Although additional cases among exposed passengers and crew may still occur before control measures were implemented, the risk of further transmission is expected to decline after disembarkation and the application of control measures."
The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport said crew members unable to return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands. About two dozen passengers and crew have been or are in quarantine in the country after arriving on various flights over the past two weeks. After everyone leaves the ship, it will be decontaminated following Dutch public health guidelines. "Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that cleaning staff do not need to quarantine after the cleanup," the ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.
Public health officials will inspect the ship before allowing it to resume operations. This is the first time a hantavirus outbreak has occurred on a cruise ship. On Saturday (May 16), France's Pasteur Institute said it had fully sequenced the Andes virus found in a French passenger on the Hondius and found it matched known viruses in South America, with no evidence of new traits making it more transmissible or dangerous.
